Men's Hockey | 1/4/2014 6:47:00 PM

Box Score

STORRS, CT – The RIT men's hockey team (6-9-3, 5-5-1 AHA) suffered its second straight loss to kick off the 2014 calendar year, falling to AHA rival Connecticut (9-6-2, 7-3-1 AHA) by score of 6-2 at the Freitas Ice Forum on Saturday afternoon.

Brant Harris tallied a hat-trick and an assist to lead the Huskies, while Brett Skibba, Ryan Segalla, and Trevor Gerling  also scored.Jordan Smis dished out three assists. Matt Grogan continued his recent mastery over RIT, stopping 26 shots. He has now won three straight against the Tigers dating back to last season.

Eliot Raibl (Vancouver, British Columbia/Quesnel Millionaires) and Andrew Miller (Chicago, IL/Chicago Steel) scored for Tigers, who were swept in a two-game weekend series against an Atlantic Hockey opponent for the just the fifth time in eight seasons in the league. In goal, Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) suffered his second straight defeat, stopping 23 shots.

Connecticut out-shot RIT, 29-28. RIT, who entered the game fourth nationally in power-play percentage, was 0-for-5. Connecticut was 2-for-5 with the man-advantage.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was not pleased with his team's effort and performance this afternoon.

"I thought (Connecticut) beat us in all facets of the game," said Wilson. "I thought we would come out a lot more determined after last night's loss, but (Connecticut) took it to us right from the start. They out hit us, and we started with a sloppy first period, which was very discouraging and it went from there. Our compete level was not there today."

The Tigers struggled to show much in the way of energy in the opening period, mustering just three shots on goal, while falling into a 2-0 deficit.

Just 4:43 into the contest, the Huskies took advantage of a bad RIT turnover, as Sean Gaffney intercepted an errant pass, skated in and faked a shot before passing to Skibba, who was able to tap in a shot into the open net to open the scoring.

Just under nine minutes later, Connecticut upped its lead to 2-0, as Jordan Sims took advantage of sloppy RIT play in the defensive zone and fed a pass to Harris in front. Harris was able to slide a low shot past Rotolo for his fourth goal of the season, making it 2-0 Huskies.

Despite out-shooting Connecticut 14-7 in the second period with the help of three power-plays, the Tigers trailed 4-0 after 40 minutes of play.

Connecticut made it 3-0 at the 6:57 mark of the second period, as Segalla took a feed from Patrick Kirtland on a rush and beat Rotolo for his first goal.

The Huskies thought they had made it 4-0 moments later, as a shot from Kyle Huson was redirected, with the red light going on. The puck never crossed the line, keeping the score 3-0. Moments later, Connecticut took the 4-0 lead, as Harris scored his second of the game off a rebound in front, as he outmuscled a pair of Tigers for the loose puck.

Todd Skirving (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Sioux Falls Stampede) had a golden chance midway through the period on the power-play, as a loose puck came to him at the side of the net. Unfortunately, Skirving could not redirect the puck into the open net, as it skittered wide. Later in the period, Brad McGowan (Langley, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) hit the post in front from the side of the open net.

The Tigers had a golden chance to get back into the game with 1:18 of 5-on-3 time late in the period, but were unable to convert, settling for shots from the perimeter.

After Harris completed the hat-trick 1:05 into the final period, Raibl scored his first goal of the season at the 9:28 mark to break the shutout. Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) fed Skirving down low. Skirving fired a pass through the slot that came right to Raibl at the left point. The senior defenseman took three strides in an ripped a low shot that deflected off a Huskies defender and past Grogan for the goal.

Miller completed the scoring with 1:01 left, jamming in a rebound off a shot from Nolan Descoteaux (Dallas, TX/South Shore Kings) in tight for his first tally of the season and second of his career. Garrett McMullen (Churchville, NY/Trail Smoke Eaters) also assisted on the goal.

RIT is now 19-10-1 all-time against Connecticut, 14-8-1 in the Division I era, and just 3-6-1 at the Freitas Ice Forum.

Last night, the Tigers fell to Connecticut 2-1, despite holding a 33-21 edge in shots. The loss snapped a six-game unbeaten streak. McMullen scored RIT's lone goal with 9:55 left in regulation, while Rotolo made 19 saves. The Tigers peppered the Connecticut with five shots on net, while Rotolo was pulled for the extra attacker in the final minute, but Grogan kept everything out.

This was the final regular season meeting as AHA rivals between the two schools, as Connecticut will join Hockey East next weekend.

RIT goes right back on the road next weekend for a pair of games at AHA rival Bentley University. Both Friday and Saturday's contests get underway at 7:05 p.m.